Research into altered states of consciousness often runs into a fundamental problem. Psychedelics and anesthesia can reliably induce these states, but they also change brain activity in ways that make it difficult to isolate the experience itself.
A recent case study published in NeuroImage approached this problem differently. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brain of a woman who can enter a psychedelic-like trance state on her own, without drugs.
A Rare Ability
The participant, referred to as AVP in the study, is a 37-year-old woman who can voluntarily enter a state described by researchers as a transcendental visionary state. This state involves vivid internal imagery, a fading sense of bodily boundaries, and what she calls an “eternal present.” AVP did not have formal training. Her ability first appeared in adolescence, and after a spontaneous visual experience at age 24, she gradually learned to enter the state at will.
Her case is scientifically valuable because of its consistency. Over 20 fMRI sessions conducted across five months, AVP consistently entered the same state, following the same internal process each time. This made her brain activity unusually reproducible for research on altered states. She is also listed as one of the study’s authors, due to the depth of introspective reporting her participation required.
What the Experience Looks Like From the Inside
Each session followed a consistent pattern. AVP began in a normal mental state, then intentionally relaxed by scanning her body, loosening her muscles, and allowing herself to feel lighter. This was followed by an effortful transition phase where she saw a violet color in her visual field, which then shifted to a yellow-violet hexagonal lattice that appeared to float around her.
When she reached full trance, the experience stabilized. She felt deeply calm, sensed space expanding, and lost awareness of her body’s boundaries. She described a ‘double consciousness,’ knowing she was in the scanner but also feeling connected to something larger. This combination of profound change and clear awareness is part of what makes her case unique.
What the Brain Data Shows
The neuroimaging data closely matched AVP’s subjective reports. During the trance state, her brain showed a large-scale reorganization of connectivity, a pattern not observed in the control group of 10 women who were asked to imagine vivid visual scenes.
Her visual cortex became mostly disconnected from auditory, sensorimotor, and thalamic regions. This isolation allowed internal imagery to dominate over external input. Her somatomotor network also disengaged from language and auditory areas, which matched her reported loss of bodily sensation.
At the same time, neural networks involved in internal focus and self-awareness became more connected to regions linked to introspection. This matched her report of stable, inward attention. During the trance, her brain activity shifted toward lower entropy and higher complexity, suggesting more structured and organized neural patterns. These patterns returned to baseline at the end of each session.
Future Implications
The study shows that the human brain can radically reorganize its large-scale networks to produce a deeply altered, psychedelic-like state without chemical intervention. This reorganization is coherent and reproducible, closely matching the sequence of experiences AVP reported in all 20 sessions. Interestingly, this pattern differs from many psychedelic states, which are often associated with increased neural entropy. In this case, the altered state appeared more structured than chaotic.
“This study demonstrates how a self-induced non-ordinary state of consciousness can be characterized as a coherent yet reorganized mode of conscious experience, with reproducible large-scale signatures tightly aligned with a phenomenological sequence,” the authors concluded.
The researchers also note the limitations of studying a single case. While AVP has an unusual neurocognitive profile, further studies with more participants will be needed to determine which findings are general and which are unique to her.
Even so, this study provides a unique opportunity to work with someone who can reliably enter an altered state without drugs. The findings offer a step toward understanding how the brain supports altered states of consciousness without pharmacological intervention.
Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.